Month: November 2021

21 people have drowned, as thousands of worshippers attempted to cross a flooded causeway in Myanmar, after making merit at a Buddhist pagoda.

The incident occurred as thousands of people were returning from the Kyeik Hne Pagoda, located on rocks roughly two kilometres off the shore, near the town of Thanbyuzayat in southern Mon state, according to a Thai PBS reporter in Mae Sot district of Thailand’s Tak province

Worshippers accessed the pagoda using a tidal causeway. After worship, while they were returning to the shore, the tide rose rapidly, assisted by strong gusts of wind, and many fell from the crowded causeway into the sea.

Rescue workers said the causeway normally opens at 6.30am, but the worshippers had tried to cross earlier, when the tidewas too high to make the journey safely.

A local resident also told reporters that the causeway, which is only 4 metres wide, is not marked clearly enough, making it difficult to navigate.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob has stressed the necessity of ending all train services to and from Hua Lamphong railway terminal. Daily rides into the station will be initially reduced to 22 from 118, to ease traffic congestion caused by periodical closures of roads at level crossings.

Many commuters have protested against the substantial cut in train services to the station, noting that this increases their expenses as they have to continue their daily journey to work in town from Bang Sue grand station by bus, instead of directly from Hua Lamphong station, which is in the city centre.

Saksayam said today (Monday), however, that he will discuss the operation of city bus services with the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, to arrange for a special feeder bus service to bring commuters from Bang Sue grand station to inner Bangkok.

In addition, he said he will negotiate with BTS Skytrain and Metropolitan Rapid Transit (MRT) to arrange special discount tickets for commuters who disembark at Bang Sue grand station.

Regarding the Hua Lamphong terminal itself, which is on spacious prime real estate, the transport minister said that the State Railways of Thailand has set up the SRT Asset Company Limited (SRTA), to manage its assets for commercial purposes, to reduce its accumulated operational debts, estimated at about 600 billion baht.

The SRT’s assets in Bangkok include several prime plots of land, including Hua Lamphong, the Thonburi train station, the Mae Nam railway station and the Royal City Avenue land.

The SRTA projects that the company will earn 5 billion baht revenue from the development of its assets in the first year, to be increased to 10 billion baht by the fifth year and up to 800 billion baht within 30 years.

It has been proposed that Hua Lamphong terminal be preserved as a museum, instead of being developed into a commercial complex, the minister said, adding that he has to make a decision which may not please some people because he has to address the SRT’s mountain of debt.

The timing for the complete cessation of all train services at the station remains unclear, but an initial proposal has scheduled it on December 23rd.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

BEIJING, Chinese President Xi Jinping told leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at a summit on Monday that Beijing would not “bully” its smaller regional neighbours, amid rising tension over the South China Sea.

Beijing’s territorial claims over the sea clash with those of several Southeast Asian nations and have raised alarm from Washington to Tokyo.

But Xi said China would never seek hegemony nor take advantage of its size to coerce smaller countries, and would work with ASEAN to eliminate “interference”.

“China was, is, and will always be a good neighbour, good friend, and good partner of ASEAN,” Chinse state media quoted Xi as saying.

China’s assertion of sovereignty over the South China Sea has set it against ASEAN members Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts.

The Philippines on Thursday condemned the actions of three Chinese coast guard vessels that it said blocked and used water cannon on resupply boats headed towards a Philippine-occupied atoll in the sea.

The United States on Friday called the Chinese actions “dangerous, provocative, and unjustified,” and warned that an armed attack on Philippine vessels would invoke U.S. mutual defence commitments.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told the summit hosted by Xi that he “abhors” the altercation and said the rule of law was the only way out of the dispute. He referred to a 2016 international arbitration ruling which found China’s maritime claim to the sea had no legal basis.

“This does not speak well of the relations between our nations,” said Duterte, who will leave office next year and has been criticised in the past for failing to condemn China’s conduct in the disputed waters.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

MYANMAR NO SHOW

Xi told the summit that China and ASEAN had “cast off the gloom of the Cold War” – when the region was wracked by superpower competition and conflicts such as the Vietnam War – and had jointly maintained regional stability.

China frequently criticises the United States for “Cold War thinking” when Washington engages its regional allies to push back against Beijing’s growing military and economic influence.

U.S. President Joe Biden joined ASEAN leaders for a virtual summit in October and pledged greater engagement with the region.

The summit was held without a representative from Myanmar, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Monday. The reason for the non-attendance was not immediately clear, and a spokesperson for Myanmar’s military government did not answer calls seeking comment.

ASEAN sidelined Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, who has led a bloody crackdown on dissent since seizing power on Feb. 1, from virtual summits last month over his failure to make inroads in implementing an agreed peace plan, in an unprecedented exclusion for the bloc.

Myanmar refused to send junior representation and blamed ASEAN for departing from its non-interference principle and caving to Western pressure.

China lobbied for Min to attend the summit, according to diplomatic sources.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service

Constitutional amendments regarding the two-ballot electoral system take effect today (November 22nd) following the publication in the Royal Gazette yesterday.

Under the two-ballot electoral system, the House of Representatives will still be made up of 500 members, but 400 of whom are elected through the constituency electoral system and 100 are party-list MPs seated in accordance with the combined votes received by each party from all constituencies across the country.

Voters will be given two ballots, one for their constituency MP and the other for the party-list MP. The two ballot electoral system will be used in the next general election.

In the constitutional amendments, it was cited that the formerelectoral system, which divides the House of Representatives into 350 constituency MPs and 150 party-list MPs, was not in line with the population in each constituency.

The single-ballot system was designed to undermine major parties such as Pheu Thai, currently the biggest Opposition party, which won the most constituency seats, but was not awarded a single party-list MP. The system also createdfractional coalitions in which medium and small sized parties are awarded more seats. Future Forward Party, which was subsequently dissolved by the Constitutional Court, for example, won the most party-list seats.

This two-ballot system proposed by the Democrat Party is the only constitutional amendment proposal, out of a total of 13 drafts proposed by various political parties, which was accepted in Parliament, and is only beneficial to major parties, not the people. The amendment draft submitted by civil society and debated in Parliament last week which sought to abolish the Senate and prevent another coup, was rejected in Parliament.

Source: Thai Public Broadcasting Service